Valentin Butnaru

Logo of Valentin Butnaru

Valentin Butnaru, born in 1955, is a journalist, playwright, publicist, and writer from the Republic of Moldova. He began his journalism career in 1979. In 1991, he was one of the founders of the "Basa-Press" Press Agency. In 1995, he established the "Flux" press group and became its director. Four years later, he founded a new newspaper, Jurnal de Chișinău, where he served as editor-in-chief. Butnaru has received several awards for his work in journalism and gained recognition in the 2000s as a political analyst. He hosted the show "Cabinetul din ombre" on Jurnal TV and has been the host of "Vânturile, valurile" on the same station since 2020. He is also the author of several books, including novels and plays, which have been staged in theaters in Chișinău, Bălți, Cahul, and Botoșani (Romania), as well as on the radio.

In 2000, the President of Romania, Emil Constantinescu, awarded him the National Order "For Merit" at the rank of Commander. In 2009, the interim President of the Republic of Moldova, Mihai Ghimpu, awarded him the Order of the Republic.

However, in 2014, Butnaru announced his decision to renounce the Order of the Republic in protest after it was also awarded to Vladimir Plahotniuc, a local oligarch who owned several competing television stations at the time.

Media Companies / Groups

Media Outlets

Facts

Television BroadcastingÎCS Reforma Art SRL, director
Newspaper PublicationPERIODIC PUBLICATION JURNAL DE CHIŞINĂU S.R.L., director UNIONMEDIA GRUP (in liquidation process), director, founder Î.C.S. JOURNAL OF CHISINAU PLUS S.R.L. (in liquidation process), director
Video ProductionS.R.L. MAGNET PRODUCTION, co-fondator (50%), https://magnet.pub
NGOPublic Association Health Promotion and Health Education Center "Sănătatea", one of the founders
Affiliated Interests Family & Friends
  • Valentina Butnaru
    Valentin Butnaru's wife is a publicist and the president of the Society for Our Romanian Language. Together, they have three children: Mia, Corina, and Dumitrița. Mia and Corina are actresses, while Dumitrița works as a communicator for a non-governmental organization.
  • Victor Gîndea
    Since 2005, Victor Gîndea has worked as a director at several radio stations, first at Radio Noroc from 2005 to 2008, then at Radio Plai until 2009, and as a producer at and director Jurnal TV since 2009. He graduated from the Gavriil Musicescu State Conservatory. Along with Victor Gîndea and Dumitru Pavel, Valentin Butnaru co-founded the Public Association Health Promotion and Health Education Center "Sănătatea," which manages the radio station Jurnal FM, a part of Jurnal Trust Media.
  • Dumitru Pavel
    Dumitru Pavel is a lawyer. From 2001 to 2003, he served as Head of Section at the National Social Insurance House in Chisinau. He then worked as a consultant at the State Chancellery and as a referee at the Supreme Court of Justice. From October 2010 to March 2012, he was a lawyer at Jurnal de Chisinau Plus SRL and later represented the Jurnal Trust Media holding in court cases. Dumitru Pavel has also provided legal assistance to members of the Party of Action and Solidarity (PPDA) and its leader, Andrei Năstase. In the 2019 parliamentary elections, he ran on the list of the ACUM Bloc in the national constituency. From 2019 to 2021, he served as a member of the Central Electoral Commission.
Data Publicly Available
ownership data is easily available from other sources, e. g. public registries etc.
Headlines
Meta Data

Detailed information about the company Reforma Art SRL is available in public registers, such as the government data portal. Since the company that founded Reforma Art SRL, Vb News Media GMBH, is registered in Germany, some information was difficult to access in public databases. MOM team requested information about the board members on July 10 and received the same day the information that there are no such bodies within the company, as it is a SRL. Information about advertising revenue the company presented in the response to the request for information.

Information held about the Public Association Health Promotion and Health Education Center "Sănătatea" is available in public registers, but cannot be accessed from the government data portal.

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Documents (PDF)